After his divorce, mineralogist Sir Ronald Chatham prepares to travel to Lakbu, Arabia to explore some possible tungsten deposits. Despite warnings from his colleagues about the dangers of such a journey, Chatham insists on taking his young son Ronald along. In Lakbu, Chatham meets with Arab Sheik Yussef Abdul and the two agree on a one-hundred-thousand pound payment for the tungsten. Abdul's wife, a white woman abducted from a similar caravan to Chatham's, overhears the deal and knows her husband has no plans to honor it. The next day, Chatham's caravan is massacred by Abdul's henchmen, but Abdul's wife manages to escape with the sole survivor, Ronald, Jr. She takes the young boy to holy man Hassen el Din before she, too, dies of wounds from her husband's men. El Din promises the dying woman to rear the young white boy as his own son, and he teaches Ronald to live among the lions. As he grows to become a strong young man, Ronald is renamed "El L'ion" because of his way with the king of beasts. El L'ion becomes a great source of annoyance to Abdul, as El L'ion offers protection to foreign caravans that had previously fallen victim to the evil sheik. Abdul faces another problem when he seeks to marry Ulayla, the daughter of Sheik Mohammed Aboy. Ulayla refuses to marry Abdul, and her father refuses to force her into such a marriage. Abdul sends his men to kidnap Ulayla, but El L'ion intervenes and returns the princess to her grateful father. While El L'ion and Ulayla fall in love, Abdul plots his revenge on both. Another caravan enters the area and Abdul spreads a rumor that El L'ion is in love with a young blonde white woman within it. Abdul then visits Ulayla, proclaiming that whites belong together, as do Arabs, but Ulayla rejects him once more, proclaiming that "all men are fools." Unknown to her, El L'ion goes to her father and requests her hand in marriage, but he is rejected for being socially beneath her and is ordered away from their camp. While his adopted father tells him such class distinctions are foolish, El L'ion learns that he is to be made a prince by the great Sheik Al'Ahute for his heroic deeds. When El L'ion arrives at the ceremony, however, Abdul has the young man's wine drugged and he is dismissed as a drunken beggar when the great sheik arrives. El L'ion returns to his father's camp in disgrace, only to have Mohammed Aboy ask his forgiveness and assistance, as Abdul has finally succeeded in kidnapping Ulayla. Along with Mohammed Aboy's men, El L'ion attacks Abdul's camp and defeats the evil sheik's forces. After he captures Abdul, El L'ion is told that Abdul is the man who murdered his natural father years earlier, and that now El L'ion has the right to exact whatever revenge he wishes. El L'ion then kills Abdul and is told of his true heritage, that he is a "prince" among the white man. Finally socially equal to Ulayla, El L'ion is now free to marry her.
